


Turn off the World

by Lady_Blackhawk



Series: The In-Between of Alex and Charlie [2]
Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:02:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24865006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Blackhawk/pseuds/Lady_Blackhawk
Summary: Alex talks to Charlie about his feelings and apologizes for pushing him away, but not before he gets some advice from Tony and Caleb. Plus a special bonus appearance of Luke, Robby, and Diego.Part of my in-between series, but can be read on its own. It's as close to in canon as I could possibly get it.
Relationships: Charlie St. George/Alex Standall
Series: The In-Between of Alex and Charlie [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1796161
Comments: 11
Kudos: 82





	Turn off the World

It’s after the riot and after the realization that Alex did indeed have feelings for Charlie that he finally calls Tony. And it’s in Tony and Caleb’s apartment, with Ani somewhere else that he sits down and just isn’t sure how to start the conversation.

“Um….so…”

“Do you want to talk about Winston, Charlie, or you?” asked Tony, bluntly.

“Um…me…but also Charlie,” Alex replied shily. “I just…I don’t know how…he’s really sweet and I’m broken and he doesn’t deserve to be stuck with me. He deserves better.”

Caleb smiled softly. “You know, part of being in a relationship is accepting each other’s faults. It’s also about being there for one another no matter what. Does Charlie want to be with you?”

“Yes, but—”

“Look, if you don’t feel the same way about him, that’s one thing. But it pretty clear you do,” Caleb continued. “The fact that you’re sitting here and that look in your eyes is a dead giveaway.”

“I get that you’re trying to protect him,” said Tony. “In case—because of everything you’ve been through and all the stuff with Winston and Diego. But Charlie’s been there for you and I have no doubt he’ll be fine to take things slow if that’s what you need.”

Alex smiled softly. But he still wasn’t sure. “I don’t know…I mean he’s all touchy feelie and I…I’m still…when I was in the library, after the lockdown he came up behind me and I freaked.”

“And why did you freak?” asked Caleb.

“I mean, I was surprised and what if someone saw…”

“And what would have happened if they did?” Caleb asked again gently, and Alex didn’t have an answer. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times.

“I…I don’t know. The football team…” But was that an answer or an excuse?

“Let Charlie worry about the football team,” Tony told him gently. “You should focus on talking to Charlie.”

“It’s too late, I blew him off at the pier, and I was a jerk…”

“Well, you can apologize, and tell him what’s going on with you and what you’re ready for,” Caleb explained.

“He called me earlier,” Tony explained. “We talked. He’s pretty gone on you.”

Charlie turned out to be perfectly ok after the riot, more shaken than anything else. It was a couple of days after, as the school closed for repairs, that they finally found time to talk, in seclusion of Alex’s room, and both parents out at work.

“You said you wanted to talk?” Charlie asked shily. “I’m sorry if I’ve seemed pushy.”

“No…I’ve been a jerk,” Alex said flatly, he patted the end of his bed so that Charlie could sit. “I’m not used to…I don’t know...I mean…” he took a deep breath. “This is new to me. I’m not even sure what my sexuality is, let alone if I want everyone to know about it. You’re just so sweet and so…. just yourself. I don’t know how to be that, not to mention the last person I was interested in…” He looked away for a moment. Alex had never really been loved, the way he loved someone else. “I’m not good at this and I don’t want to drag you into my problems.”

Charlie tilted his head slightly, trying to take his words in. “You don’t have to try to be anything other than yourself. I like you because you’re you. Alex, you deserve to be happy, and loved, you know that, right?”

Alex bit his lip as he looked at Charlie’s soft eyes. He didn’t know what being loved was, well outside of family and friendship that is. He thought he loved Jessica, and she certainly didn’t love him back. So, what was being loved like?

“I want to be an us, really badly. I do. But I’m not sure I’m ready for everyone to know, or to be touchy-feely at school, or…or any of that. I do want to be with you…and I’m sorry for kissing you and then pushing you away. But I just…I don’t know how to be happy, or how to do this. I’m terrible with relationships. I’m terrible with life.”

“You’re not terrible at life,” Charlie replied, scooting closer to him, and grabbing his hand, “You deserve to world Alex. You’re smart, you’re passionate, you’re supportive and kind, and you’re an amazing friend. I know it’s not easy. I know you’ve been through a lot. But I want to be with you. And I know exactly what I’m signing up for.”

“Faults and all?”

“Absolutely!”

And there’s a lot that Alex wants to say. He doesn’t deserve to be happy, he’s a murderer, and Charlie deserves someone who’s stable and healthy and who will love him. He wants to say that Charlie’s the one that deserves the world and that he’s should be with someone better. But he’s also selfish and he really likes Charlie

He nods and kissed Charlie softly, tenderly, and the two fell on the bed. For now, he’ll just let Charlie hold him.

For a few minutes, he forgets about everything.

They do set a few ground rules. Alex doesn’t mind hand-holding or romance, but he’s naturally not super into PDA. Charlie’s ok with that, even if a part of him thinks it's some unresolved issues with past relationships. He also doesn’t want to be all PDA around the others, mostly because he’s still mad at Ani and Clay for keeping the details of Winston to themselves, and then just telling everyone about what Alex had been doing with Winston.

Charlie and Alex begin to spend some more time together. Just the two of them. They go to the movies. They go to Monet’s and Charlie watches as Alex orders some kind of special peach drink which Charlie swears is a milkshake and an abomination before coffee houses everywhere. But he smiles and laughs when Alex acknowledges this was probably not his drink, and they say screw it and go get real milkshakes. 

Charlie doesn’t play baseball, so he’s not in the locker room. But Luke and Diego and Robby who play baseball in the spring and football in the fall came to his house for a night of video games. It was nice having friends on the football team who were nothing like Monty. Next year, with a large brand new team, Charlie would have his work cut out for him. 

“It’s so messed up they’re canceling prom,” Luke said with a groan.

“Dude why does that matter to you? Not like you were going to get a date.” Diego countered and everyone laughed.

“It’s not like that,” Luke continued, “It’s just tradition. We’re supposed to have a good time, elect the prom royalty, get a little drunk at the after-party, and cherish our last moments of high school.”

Robby and Diego were playing a racing game in the living room and Charlie and Luke were on the couch munching on popcorn.

“Not only is prom canceled, but they’re making us clean the school,” said Charlie. “My dad had a meeting of the boosters and part of our punishment is community service for the school.”

The others nodded, having received messages from their parents as well in regards to the disciplinary action the school and the PTA had come up with.

“Yeah, my moms were this close to grounding me until graduation,” Robby said and passed the controller over to Charlie. “And dude. I wanted to go to prom. I was going to ask Breanna, from my Chemistry class. That girl is wicked smart.”

“No way in hell Jessica would go with me,” Diego added. “I don’t think she was ever into me.”

“Meh,” said Luke. “She’s cool and all, but you deserve better, man. When you're off at USC you'll find someone.”

“I was going to ask Alex,” Charlie says like it’s natural. And then paused. Shit. He wasn’t going to say anything. The guys turned to him. “Um…surprise. I’m bisexual.”

“Oh,” said Luke, “Nice.” 

“Yeah man, thanks for telling us,” said Diego. “Alex is a great guy.”

“We figured as much, and my Moms said that the best thing would be to just to let you come to us when you were ready,” Robby smiled.

“Wow. Um…thanks guys. That means a lot. Also, please don’t tell anyone. A few people already know Alex isn’t straight and one person basically outed him so…”

“No worries,” said Diego, “Your secret’s totally safe with us. Outing people isn’t cool.”

Charlie smiled and heard the ding from the timer. “Oh, that would be the cookies.” He jumped up and ran to the kitchen.

But there was a way to get prom back and as soon as Charlie mentioned prom and telling their parents the truth, it took Alex some time to figure out what the truth is, and what was even left to tell his parents. They get into Charlie’s car and sit in silence for a moment.

“I’m going to come out to my dad,” Charlie chimes in, and Alex looked at him. “The guys on my team know…about us. Diego, Luke, and Robby for sure, and I think the others suspect, according to Diego I was not subtle with my crush on you.” Alex’s face shifted into a panic at first, then softens. “Don’t worry, they’re cool with it. They’re actually being supportive.”

“So that’s the secret you’re going to tell your dad to get him to help you get prom back?” asked Alex.

“Yup!” Charlie said, never losing that sweet, innocent smile of his. “And I meant what I said. I do care about prom and I think after everything, we all deserve a chance to just…be normal and happy for a night.”

Alex bit his lip but said nothing. Charlie drove him home and he still didn’t say anything. “I hope you know that you don’t have to do anything you don’t feel comfortable doing. I’m coming out because I think it’s time. I mean Diego and Luke took it pretty well, and Robby’s moms would kill him if he was remotely homophobic, or biphobic. But everyone comes out on their own time when they feel they’re ready.” Alex sent a small mhmm his way, but nothing more as he turned onto a different street. 

They pulled into Alex’s driveway. He smiled and kissed Charlie before getting out of the car. “I’ll see you at school.”

His Dad was already at home, but his mom had a late shift. “Who was that?”

“Oh, that was Charlie,” said Alex coolly and Bill smiled.

“I’m glad you two are hanging out. He’s a good kid. I ordered pizza.” With just the two of them, they ate a few slices and Alex filled him in on what’s been going on at school, in his classes, and he somehow kept coming back to Charlie. “You should have him come to dinner. Peter’s coming back for the weekend, and he’ll want someone to talk football with. He’s obsessed with the school’s football team. It’ll be fun.”

Alex smiled at his father. “Yeah, um…that sounds great.”

  
Charlie called Alex that morning right as Alex had arrived at school. “So. I just came out to my dad,” he explained.

“How did he take it?”

“Better than I thought. He kind of had this look like he knew, so I asked him about it and then…we just started talking about my childhood obsession with Eli Manning.” Alex laughed into the phone.

“So he’s cool with it?” asked Alex.

“Yup! He’s really happy with it and he’s going to help us get prom back. But there’s a cavity.”

“You mean caveat?”

“Yes!” Charlie laughed into the phone. “He promised to spend more time with me, so we can rebuild our relationship and stuff…and so he wants to meet you.”

“What?” Alex squeaked.

“Deep breath,” Charlie told him. “Take a deep breath. It’s ok. I told him I was seeing someone, and he just wants to know who it is I'm seeing and get to know them. He might come off as a bit cold at first. But my Dad’s a cool guy.”

Alex swallowed and tried to keep his brain from going into overdrive. “It doesn’t have to right now, or next week. Whenever you’re ready. If it’s ok. I would love to tell him more about you.”

“Um…yeah. That…that would be ok… actually.” Alex took a deep breath.

“Cool. Do you want to go to the museum after school tomorrow? They’re doing a Tesla Coil thing, with music.”

“That sounds like fun.”

And it was fun. It was like going to a concert, but with fewer people, and music, synchronized to the coils. Watching it was like watching a window into another time, another world. At that moment he wrapped an arm around his boyfriend and Alex felt like he could turn off the world a little and enjoy himself.


End file.
